Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2018
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2018 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Page: 14
BANNING POT FROM APARTMENTS HAS WHIFF OF HYPOCRISY
There's no buzzkill like bureaucracy. A new proposal by Ottawa Public
Health to ban marijuana - once it's legal - from condos and
apartments, seems like overreach to us.
As the Sun's Andrew Duffy reports today, Ottawa's acting medical
officer of health has recommended that the province extend its
proposed ban on pot smoking in common areas of condos, apartment
buildings and university residences. Dr. Vera Etches said the province
should prohibit smoking cannabis, e-liquids and herbal shisha products
in condos, apartment buildings, university residences, hotels and
their balconies.
Welcome to what happens when Stoner State meets Nanny
State.
The left-leaning federal government wants to score political points
with its base and actually keep at least one of its election promises
from two years ago.
Meanwhile, the left-leaning bureaucracy of our city wants to keep
people from doing anything that might not be good for them.
Who knew legal pot would be so complicated?
We can agree or disagree on the idea of legalizing marijuana: There
are concerns more kids will get their hands on weed; there are
economic spinoffs that could help with provincial and federal finances.
It's the state's job to decide what precautions are needed to protect
those who are under age.
It's the responsibility of the state to decide what to do with the tax
revenue the marijuana industry generates.
But the state should really stay out of deciding what legal things
adults can or can't do in their own homes.
Surely, people using marijuana in the privacy of their residences is
one of the least obnoxious possible outcomes here.
Some buildings will doubtlessly have no smoking policies. Others,
though, should be allowed to cater to those who want to imbibe on
their balcony or patio at night. The laws of supply and demand in the
residential market will handle the rest, as they always do.
Let's let landlords and tenants figure this one out, rather than some
arm of the law.
If marijuana is to be treated like alcohol - the purview of legal-age
adults, so long as they use it responsibly - then the state shouldn't
get to restrict it from a huge swath of residents just because they
aren't homeowners.
If "legal" doesn't really mean legal, then the stink of hypocrisy here
will be worse than any wafting aroma from the neighbour's place.
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MAP posted-by: Matt